“Artificially…
create urgency?” Lena’s voice weakened slightly as the meaning of Adrian’s words finally sank in, and a trace of unease appeared on her face.
She understood what he meant now.
His plan was simply to take the child away first and force Walter and Martha Pike to experience the feeling of “losing the family line” a year ahead of schedule—or, more precisely, before Martin Hayes’s criminal trial even began.
Once that happened, Walter would become more anxious than Clara.
At the very least, it would put the two sides back on equal footing.
“This…
still doesn’t seem right.” Adrian glanced at her.
“What doesn’t?” “If this makes Walter furious, then Martin’s case could—” Lena had barely finished speaking before Adrian’s expression turned utterly speechless.
“You really shouldn’t have brought that up.” He shook his head.
“The moment you say it out loud, I almost want to laugh.” Before Lena could object, Adrian went straight to the most important point.
“You need to understand something.
Martin is the only bargaining chip Walter and Martha have against us.” He paused.
“But that bargaining chip is fake.” Lena frowned.
Adrian continued calmly.
“If Martin receives a heavy sentence, Walter immediately loses the only thing he can use to pressure Clara.
Once Martin’s fate is decided, what exactly is he supposed to trade for the child afterward?” Lena’s expression shifted.
“In other words,” Adrian said, “Walter and Martha are the last people who can afford to let Martin’s case reach the worst possible outcome.” “The only path available to them is an exchange.
They want the child, and Clara wants her father protected.
This idea that they’ll simply destroy Martin out of anger and let everything collapse together doesn’t actually make sense.” The moment those words left his mouth, Lena felt as though something had suddenly clicked into place.
Of course.
That was exactly it.
Walter and Martha were using Martin’s criminal case as leverage because they wanted Clara’s son.
But if Martin were sentenced before they obtained the child, that leverage would disappear completely.
They would have nothing left to exchange.
As long as Clara’s son was no longer physically in their hands, Walter and Martha would be even less willing to let Martin’s case reach an irreversible conclusion.
Adrian gave a faint, irritated laugh.
“They’re actually threatening us with something they themselves don’t dare to let happen.” He shook his head again.
“I haven’t even threatened them yet, and somehow they got here first and started threatening me.” “Ridiculous.” If Adrian had been slightly less well-mannered, he might have pointed directly at Derek Vaughn’s face earlier and asked whether the man had lost his mind.
If anyone was going to make threats, Adrian felt it should at least be the side with the stronger position.
Lena stared at him in astonishment.
The more she thought about it, the more obvious it became.
Walter and Martha were trying to use a bargaining chip they could not actually afford to cash in.
And a criminal judgment was not something Ethan’s parents could dictate by themselves anyway.
The court would consider the entire incident, the evidence, the testimony of the officers, Ethan’s conduct, Martin’s conduct, and the arguments made by both sides.
As long as Adrian performed well, Walter and Martha could shout themselves hoarse without necessarily determining the outcome.
The child, on the other hand, was different.
If Clara physically recovered her son, then Walter and Martha really would lose possession of him.
With only a few sentences, Adrian had taken what Lena had regarded as a nearly hopeless situation and stripped it down until the underlying balance of power became obvious.
More surprisingly, once she followed his logic to its conclusion, Lena began to realize that their side might actually hold the advantage.
The realization felt almost unreal.
She had spent nearly half a month considering the problem without finding a satisfactory way through it.
Adrian had taken the case less than a day ago.
“Attorney Cole…
how exactly is your brain wired?” The words slipped out before Lena realized what she had said.
She froze.
Then her face reddened slightly, and she hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, I didn’t mean that as an insult.
I mean…
you’re impressive.” She genuinely meant it as praise.
Lena had studied law from a young age and graduated from Harrington University, one of the most prestigious universities in Eastland.
She had met plenty of brilliant students, professors, attorneys, and judges, many of whom were among the most talented people in the country.
Yet she had never met anyone who approached a case quite like Adrian.
His reasoning did not seem limited to legal doctrine alone.
He treated psychology, timing, incentives, bargaining power, and human behavior as though they were simply additional parts of the case file.
“You flatter me.” Adrian waved a hand with shameless modesty, graciously accepting the compliment as though he had not just spent several minutes dismantling her understanding of the entire case.
Then his expression cooled again.
“As long as we take the child first, when the time comes, we won’t be the ones panicking.” That was the entire point.
Walter and Martha needed to understand that their own deadline had suddenly arrived.
Clara should never have been the only person sitting at the negotiating table under pressure.
At the very least, both sides needed to face each other as equals.
In fact, the more Adrian examined the situation, the more he believed Clara might ultimately hold the stronger position.
Walter and Martha possessed only one bargaining chip: Martin’s case.
But they themselves did not dare allow that chip to disappear before getting what they wanted.
Once Clara’s son was taken out of Pine Hollow and returned to her, Walter and Martha would find themselves in a far more desperate position.
Lena’s thoughts accelerated.
Her eyes brightened.
“Then once we have the child, we use the opportunity to negotiate terms with them?” Adrian frowned immediately and looked at her with obvious dissatisfaction.
“Negotiate?” Lena paused.
“The child is already with us, they don’t dare let Martin’s case reach an irreversible outcome, and at that point you still want to sit down and politely negotiate with them?” His expression suggested that Lena had personally offended his professional sensibilities.
“Then what would have been the point of stealing the child?” Lena stared at him.
Adrian answered decisively.
“Threaten them.” She blinked.
“We threaten them.
Plain and simple.” Adrian’s tone was perfectly matter-of-fact.
“As for what kind of pressure would be most useful for Martin’s criminal case, you don’t need to worry about that yet.
I already have my own arrangements.” The logic was simple.
Adrian had not even begun putting pressure on Walter and Martha, yet Derek Vaughn had already come to the police station and tried to pressure him first.
When the child was still in Pine Hollow, Adrian could tolerate that for the moment because Walter and Martha had not yet understood the true nature of their position.
But if Adrian went through the trouble of taking the child out of their hands and still continued allowing them to dictate terms afterward, then what had been the point of doing it in the first place?
As for whether a simple statement of forgiveness would be enough to change Martin’s criminal case…
That was an entirely different question.
If someone thought the only useful thing Walter and Martha could be pressured into doing was signing a forgiveness letter, then in Adrian’s view, they still did not understand what should actually be demanded from them.
Lena stared at him again with an expression of disbelief.
She had lost count of how many times Adrian had managed to make her question whether she was actually speaking to another lawyer.
First he proposed stealing a child.
Now he was openly discussing threatening the opposing side.
What respectable attorney spoke like this?
If someone changed the setting, removed the suits, and told her Adrian was planning a bank robbery, she suspected his tone would fit perfectly.
The bar examination included professional ethics.
How had this man passed?
Then Lena suddenly caught herself.
“No.” She shook her head, forcing those thoughts away.
His reasoning might make sense, but there was still one enormous problem.
“This is illegal, isn’t it?” Adrian turned toward her.
Lena hesitated before continuing.
“Taking the child like that…
isn’t that basically kidnapping?
No matter how useful the strategy is, we’re lawyers.
We can’t commit a crime just because it helps the case.” That was the part she could not ignore.
Professional ethics aside, if Walter and Martha reported them for kidnapping a child, Lena had no desire to discover how quickly the police officers sitting a few meters away would change from acquaintances into arresting officers.
Her concern was entirely reasonable.
Adrian, however, looked genuinely puzzled.
“Illegal?” He frowned and tilted his head slightly.
“What part of it is illegal?” Lena stared at him.
Adrian’s expression remained completely sincere.
“This is obviously legal and compliant.” Lena said nothing.
Legal?
Compliant?
She mentally replayed everything Adrian had said since the conversation began, including the pauses between his sentences, and still could not find where either of those words applied.
If anything, his plan sounded as though someone had opened the criminal code and started using it as a checklist.
Unable to hold herself back, Lena exclaimed, “You want to steal a child and then threaten the other side.
How is any of that legal?” “Of course it’s legal.” Adrian raised an eyebrow, looking almost confused that she still needed to ask.
“Is that really so strange?” Then he added with complete confidence, “I’ve always relied on being law-abiding and compliant to make my way through the world.” Lena’s eyes widened.
“No—seriously, is there even a single part of what you just said that sounds legal?”